Cyndy’s Battles on after Strip Club Deal Fails

Cyndy’s House of Pancakes is back doing what it does best – serving its signature pancakes, eggs and chicken fried steaks.

But the restaurant’s recent closure and a proposal to convert it to a strip club have hurt both the business and its employees.

Business at the restaurant at 10507 Aurora Ave. N. has been slow since it reopened last month, but it’s starting to pick up, according to Manager Tom Grennan. “With time, we’ll hopefully get back to where we were,” he said.

Cyndy’s House of Pancakes

Grennan says that the dalliance with businessman Bob Davis, who was behind the strip club proposal, turned many former customers away. “A lot of people quit supporting us because it was going to be a strip club,” he said.

Davis’ plan to turn the restaurant into a strip club came as a surprise to Grennan. “When we talked to him (Davis) we thought it was going to be a comedy club, like Giggles,” Grennan explained, referring to the comedy club previously owned by Davis. “But a comedy club is very different to a strip club.”

Grennan regrets the pain that the failed sale caused Cyndy’s employees. When the restaurant closed its doors, all employees were let go, and not all of them came back. “People were hurt over the deal; families were hurt,” Grennan said. “The only positive is that we were able to hire some new people who were out of work.”

So what does the future hold for Cyndy’s? The property is still for sale – it’s a key part of the Bowman family’s retirement plan. But Grennan is adamant that pole dancers aren’t in the property’s future. “It won’t be a strip club and definitely won’t be sold to Bob Davis,” he said. “We want it to remain something good for the neighborhood; we don’t want it to be a strip club.”

For Grennan, Cyndy’s would ideally remain a restaurant: “If a restaurant could buy it and run it as a restaurant; that would be awesome.”

Cyndy’s House of Pancakes is open Mon-Sun. from 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the corner of Aurora Ave. N. and N. 105th St.